The Sound of Nothing
by Oomaki-chan
Summary: After getting beaten by his classmates, Otoya becomes mute. At the hospital he meets Syo, who's waiting for a new heart. The two find a way to communicate and become close, despite meeting due to two tragedies.
1. Chapter 1

The world seemed to be moving as if everything was stuck on fast forward. Nurses sped in and out of the white and pale green hospital room. They would come in and adjust the bag on clear fluids that hung by the bedside, check to make sure that all bandages were still in their place, and possible change a few if needed. They would chat with each other and attempt to get the teenaged patient to respond. But everything that the nurses would say became meaningless to the young male who lay, almost lifelessly, on top on the mattress.

The boy never moved, except to turn his head to face someone when they addressed him. Other than that, the nurses and doctors would work together to lift him off of the bed to feed him and change him out of the dirty bandages and hospital gowns he wore. Even though the people around him would try to talk to him, his eyes were always dull and he never responded.

There was a light knock on the door and a man in a long white coat came walking into the room, followed by a nurse. The doctor picked up the clip board that hung off the bed and flipped through the documents briefly before setting it back down. The man walked up to the side of the hospital bed and sat down on the stool beside it. "Ototya Ittoki?" He asked the boy, trying to get a responce, but boy only turned his head to look at him. "It's nice to meet you. I'll be the doctor taking care of you while you're here." The doctor paused again. He looked over the boy, who was covered in bandages. "You have many injuries including several cuts along your torso, many scrapes and bruises, a broken wrist and three broken ribs, and the large gash across your forehead. The problem isn't if you will heal, because you are healing very well right now, but that we don't know how these injuries were caused. Would you be able to tell us?"

Otoya remained silent and just stared at the doctor. He didn't move or make any sort of facial expression. But, suddenly, tears began to stream down his face, as if he was unable to hold them back. Not a single sound escaped the boy and the tears fell, he only looked at the man in the white coat with the usual lifeless expression. Even as the nurse ran up to the patient to dab the tears away with a white clothe, Otoya didn't respond.  
Letting out a sigh, the doctor stood up from the stool and began walking out of the room. He whispered something into the nurses ear, so that Otoya would be unable to hear it, and left. The nurse then returned to taking care of Otoya. She adjusted the hospital bed so that Otoya would be sitting up and began to unravel the bandage that was wrapped around the boy's forehead, and clean the area around the several stitches, before putting on a new, clean set of bandages. Once she had finished, she let Otoya lay down once more, fixed the blankets which covered him, and said a quick good bye before leaving the room.

Now that he was left alone once more, Otoya looked up at the ceiling. He had heard what the doctor asked, and knew exactly what had happened to him. He could still feel it. The shock of being pushed down, the pain of being kicked by many different pairs of feet, the absolute horror that washed through him when one of his attackers pulled out a knife. It had been the first time anyone had actually taken out a weapon when hurting him. Otoya could feel his whole body tensing up and his heart beginning to pound in his chest. Not too long after his heart rate shot up, nurses began flooding into the room. One tried to calm him down while the others began doing something that Otoya couldn't see as his eyes began to grow heavier. Then, everything went black.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Otoya woke up to one of the nurses tapping his shoulder lighty. He blinked his eyes open and looked up at the familiar nurse. She was the same one who greeted him every morning. The red headed boy sat up on his own and placed his hands in his lap.  
"Good morning." The nurse said. "I brought your breakfast." She lifted the tray that had been on top of the bedside table and placed it carefully over the boy's lap.  
Otoya nodded his head and picked up the fork on his plate and began picking at the scrambled eggs on his plate. The could see the nurse giving him a worried smile out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored it. The two sat in silence as Otoya ate. He hadn't had much of an apatite since he had entered the hospital, so he ended up leaving a good amount on his plate. Once he had finished, he placed the fork back down and looked away from the nurse, staring at the window that was currently covered by white curtains. The nurse saw that the boy was looking away and quickly ran to pull the curtain away so that the boy could look out the window.

"It's a lovely day out." She said as she went to clear the tray away from the boy. "I know you don't like moving too much, but you should see about going outside. You are allowed to walk around after all." The nurse waited for a reply of any kind, but got none. She decided to leave it at that and carried the tray out of the room, leaving the teen on his own.

Otoya stayed in his bed for hours. Durring that time, he had spent time simply staring out the window and being surrounded by nurses. The doctor came into his room and tried to ask Otoya questions, only to get the same silence. Even after he had been given lunch, Otoya did nothing but sit around and stare off into space.

The red haired boy looked at the door, then at the ground. He thought about what the nurse from that morning had told him. He supposed it would be a good idea to move around some, especially since he had been doing nothing but sitting and laying down for a few days now. Otoya pulled the blankets off of him and took the straps from the machines off of his wrists before slowly swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He looked towards the navy blue pajamas that had been placed on the shelf under the beside table by one of the nurses. The leaned down and unfolded them, placing the two separate pieces on the bed next to him. Otoya then began slipping out of the gown he was in, letting it drop in a heap on the floor, before slowly putting the pajamas on. He managed to put the pants on easily enough, only having trouble when it came to standing up to pull them on without falling over. Once those were on, he threw the shirt on, buttoning it up all the way to hide the bandages on his chest and stomach. He stood up, putting all of his weight on the bedside table, then the wall, until he was able to reach the crutches that leaned against the wall.

After situating himself over the crutches, Otoya made his way for the door, then into the hallway. No one bothered to stop him as he walked down the hall. He didn't really know where he was going, mostly because he had never been outside of the room and didnt know his way around the hospital. He found a map on one of the walls by an elevator and looked it over. He saw the the courtyard wasnt too far from where he currently was, and began heading in that direction.

Otoya met the fresh outdoor air in a sudden burst as the automatic sliding doors opened up. The sound of his crutches changed as he went from tile to stone and continued down the pathway. There were many other patients outside, some in wheel chairs, some followed by nurses, and many of different ages. Not wanting to be too close to anyone, Otoya wandered until he found a bench that was in one of the far off corners of the open space. It was a bit tricky to hold the crutches in one hand as he sat down, but once he did Otoya was able to relax on top of the bench.

A light breeze came by every now and then, blowing against the red head's face and lightly through his hair. It had been so long since he was outside. Otoya didn't even remember what day he had been brought to the hospital. The last thing he remembered before waking up in the highly sterile room was the mass amount of pain that coursed through his body as he was beaten. Otoya could feel himself beginning to shake as the memory of crazed grins and hurtful voices passed through his head. Feeling his eyes beginning to water, he lifted an arm up to rub any possible tears away with his sleeve. He hung his head low and stared at his feet.

Suddenly, a shadow covered Otoya's feet. When the teen looked up he saw another boy standing in front of him. This boy looked like he might be around his age, maybe a bit younger even. He had blonde hair and was wearing the same navy blue pajama pants as Otoya, only with a white tee-shirt on top, showing that he was a patient too. "Ming if I sit with you?" The boy asked.

Otoya whipped his eyes one last time and nodded. He watched curiously as the blonde boy sat down on the bench and stretched out his arms and legs. "Tired of being cooped up inside? Or are you just running from the nurses?" The blonde asked with a smile on his face. Otoya simply shook his head. "So, neither?" Otoya nodded in responce. "I know that this is a really stupid question, being in a hospital and all, but are you ok?"

The red haired boy looked at the boy and coaxed his head to the side. He then looked down at his feet and shrugged. He began pointing to all of his injuries, mainly his forehead, ribs, and wrist. But when he looked at the blonde to see if he had understood, he saw the look of confusion on the other male's face, Otoya looked back down at the ground, a frown on his face. He took took one of his index fingers and pointed to himself, then brought it up to his face and traced a line from the corner of his eye to his chin.  
"Why were you crying?" The blonde asked, understanding the last motion that the red head had made.

Otoya brought both of his hands up and gripped his throat lightly. It almost looked as if he was choking himself.

"So," the blonde thoat about it for a moment. "You can't talk?" He watched as Otoya shook his head. "Why not?"

The red head looked around nervously. He didn't know what kind of motion to make to try and explain why he wasnt talking. He could feel his whole body beginning to shake again.  
"Hey, it's ok." The blonde held his hands up as if he wanted to do something to help the red head, but didnt know how to. "Um, uh, you don't have to force yourself."

Otoya looked at the other boy and smiled his thanks. He was rather curious about this boy. He hadn't expected someone to come up and try to talk to him, outside of one of the nurses that is. This was the Otoya's first conversation since coming to the hospital as well. Or at least, the first one where he had responded. Wanted to know a bit more about the boy, Otoya raise his hand and poked a finger at the chest of the boy sitting next to him, holding it there as he coaxed his head to the side and gave a questioning glance.  
The blonde boy looked down at the finger then at the boy, an eyebrow raised. "What? You want to know something?" He saw Otoya nod and began to think about what the boy might want. "My name?" He asked, earning a happy smile and nod. "Oh. I'm Syo. Syo Kurusu."

Otoya looked at Syo happily. It was nice to be near someone other than the usual nurses, especially since Syo was probably so close in age. Although Otoya had never responded to any of the nurses, he had wanted nothing more than to be able to talk with someone again. But with the nurses and doctors it was always the same thing. They just wanted to know what he didn't want to remember. Then it hit him, he needed to tell Syo his name somehow. He looked around frantically, trying to find something he could use.  
"Here you go." Syo handed Otoya a cellphone. It was already open to the 'New Conact' page.

The red head nodded his thanks and too the phone into his hands. He began typed his name down, but he didn't know what else to put. He did have a cell phone, apparently it had been found with him and wasnt broken, but he hadn't charged it, so it was probably out of battery. But still, he could probably ask one of the nurses if he could borrow a charger. After deciding to put in his cell phone number, Otoya looked at the screen once more, wondering what else he should put down. There wasnt much else to put down. With a shrug, Otoya put in one last thing before handing the phone back to its rightful owner.

Syo looked at the saved contact that was now in his phone.

_Otoya Ittoki_  
_(xxx) xxx - xxxx _  
_Room 2017_

"Otoya?" Syo muttered. He then turned to face the boy next to him, holding his hand out. "Nice to meet you Otoya."

The red haired boy nodded and took Syo's hand in his, shaking it with a smile on his face. Then he remembered something and tapped at his wrist, as if he were tapping a watch.  
"It's about 4:30." Syo said, looking at the clock on his phone. He watched as Otoya became frantic. The red head tapped at his own chest before making a movement with his fingers like a person walking. "If you gotta go then don't worry about me. Go ahead. I'll send you a message later though."

Otoya began to stand up, grabbing hold of his crutches, and situated himself on his feet. He nodded to Syo and waved before turning around and heading back inside. After going through several halls, he finally made it back to his room, where he then went straight to the small bag that was on the other side of the room. It was the bag that he had had with him before he had been beaten, and luckily, it still had a lot of his stuff in it and mostly unharmed. After shifting through the partially ripped and broken items inside of the bag, Otoya finally found his phone. It was an old flip phone, but it was one of those ones that was practically indestructible, so it barely even had a scratch. Otoya pressed the power button and was happy to find that it still turned on, but it was extremely low on battery and needed to be charged soon.

"Oh, you're up!" A nurse said when she came into the room. She was surprised to see that the teen was out of bed and moving around. She was carrying a bucket of water, a sponge, and few sets of clean bandages.

Otoya made his was over to her and held his phone up to her, pointing to the battery image in the top corner, hoping she would understand that he would like to charge it.  
"Hmm. I think that there might be someone with the right charge somewhere. I can go ask if you like." The nurse said, placing the objects in her hands down on the table in the room. Otoya nodded and handed to phone to the lady. "Sit down and take off your shirt so that I can check the bandages while I go see if I can find another charger for you. I'll be back in a minute."

Otoya nodded and went to go sit on top of his rooms bed when the nurse left. He leaned his crutches against the wall, taking care to make sure that they wouldn't fall he was sitting down comfortably, he began taking off the pajama shirt, unbuttoning it and shrugging it off so that it lay on the bed. He then sat and waited for the nurse to come back.

The nurse came back into the room carrying a black cable as well as Otoya's cellphone. She plugged it into the outlet nearest to the bed and rested the phone on top of the bedside table to that the boy would be able to reach it easily. "There you go. You got lucky. One of the other nurses had a charger that fit." The nurse smiled and began to unwrap the bandages around Otoya's chest. Once those were off, she dipped the sponge in the bucket of water and began to dab at the boy's chest. She wanted to make sure that the scrapes and stitches that went across it were nice and clean before she covered it with the new set of bandages. She then did the same with Otoya's upper arm. Once she was done, she smiled at the boy happily. "I'll bring you dinner soon. So why don't you stay in bed for now?"

Otoya didn't respond, but instead reached for his shirt and began putting it back on. He pushed himself back onto his bed, pulling the covers back over him, and looked out the window once more. For the whole rest of the day, he ignored the nurses and doctors who came into the room and checked up on him or gave him food. Although he did steal glances towards his phone, clearly waiting for it to go off at any time.

The sound of his phone vibrating against the bed side table made Otoya jump in his own skin. He quickly picked up the phone and flipped it open to see that there was a message from a number that wasnt saved in his contacts. He opened it up and a smile grew on his face right away.

_Hey! It's Syo._

Otoya quickly saved the number before responding to the text.

_Hi Syo. Thanks for talking to me earlier._

The red head sat up in his bed, adjusting it so that he was able to sit up, and brought his knees up towards his chest. He stared at his phone, waiting for it to go off again. When if finally did, he happily opened the message.

_No worries. You looked really down. And it was cool meeting you._

The two boys continued to text each other. They didn't really talk about much though. Neither of them cared to bring up what had landed them in the hospital, so they tried to avoid that topic. Instead they would talk about how awful the food was and how the nurses never left them alone. To Otoya, even if it was meaningless chatting, he loved it. He had never talked to someone so freely before. And since he didn't have to open his mouth to speak when texting, he was able to freely talk to Syo. What was better was that Syo didn't seem to be judging him at all. It made Otoya happy to know that there was someone in the world who might actually care.


	2. Chapter 2

Syo walked through the halls of the hospital, his hands in the deep pockets of the navy blue pajama pants he had to wear. Unlike many patients, he was allowed to walk around as much as he liked. Because of this, he didn't even bother spending anytime in his hospital room, other than to watch some of his favorite TV shows when they would come on. The blonde didn't even eat in his room anymore. He would always go down to the cafeteria. The food there was not only better, but there were more options and nurses wouldn't be bugging him there.

After having breakfast, the blonde continued to wander through out the hallways. He didn't have any particular destination in mind. Syo reached into his pocket and fished out his phone. He hadn't gotten any messages since the night before, when he and Otoya had been texting each other. Syo kept thinking about sending the other teen a message, just to see if he was awake. But he didn't want to wake Otoya up if he was still asleep.

"It's not like we'd really be able to talk anyways." Syo muttered under his breath, jamming the phone back into his pocket. It wasn't that he didn't want to chat more with Otoya, because he was actually really happy to know someone in this whole entire hospital that wouldn't mind keeping him company. But if Otoya couldn't talk, then having any form of conversation, outside of texting, was pretty much impossible. Syo began trying to think of a way to get around the communication problem. That's when he passed the gift shop. Standing in front of the large glass windows of the gift shop gave the blonde an idea. He walked into the brightly lit shop and made his way past the walls covered in colorful cards and stuffed dogs holding hearts that said 'Get Well Soon' to the back corner. The shelves there were mostly filled with kids' stuff, toys, coloring books, etc. Syo crouched down and began looking over the different types of sketch pads. After shifting through them, he found a decent sized one with a red cover. Syo grabbed a pack of pencils off the shelf too. He was about to head to the counter, when he looked back at the section of coloring books. He stood there and just stared for a moment before giving in to the temptation and going back to grab a superhero coloring book and a pack of crayons. Once he had picked out everything he needed, he finally made his way to the counter and placed the items down.

"Are you a patient?" The lady at the register asked while scanning the items.

"Yeah." Syo raised an eyebrow, wondering why it really mattered.

"Would you like to pay in cash, credit, or would you like me to add the bill to your room fee?" She asked.

Syo took a moment to think about it. He had some cash on him, since his parents always made sure he had some, even in the hospital. "Add it to the room fee." He decided.

The lady nodded and asked for Syo's room number before putting the coloring book, sketchpad, pencils, and crayons in a plastic bag. Syo also saw her slip a card into the bag, but he didn't say anything. "Get well soon." The lady smiled at Syo when she handed him the bag. The blonde said a 'thank you' before leaving the gift shop.

Once he was outside, he took his phone out of his pocket and opened up Otoya's contact info. "Room 2017." Syo said under his breath as he read it over. "Got it." Syo put his phone back in his pocket and began looking around for a map of the hospital. Normally he would have just asked someone, but he had a feeling that none of the people at the front desk would be too keen on the idea of a patient visiting another patient, especially if the two didn't have anything to do with each other. After walking around the hallway somewhat aimlessly, he found a map on one of the walls. After figuring out that he really didn't have good map reading skills, he figured out where Otoya's room would be. He tried to make a mental note that he just needed to go up one floor then go down the correct hallway and the room should be there. Then he began to head to the room.

Syo hoped onto an elevator that was just around the corner and ignored the woman who pulled her child away from him when she realized that he was a patient. Once the doors metal doors slid open again, Syo stepped out of the elevator and tried to remember which way he was supposed to turn. He was thankful for the plaque on the wall which told him what number rooms were in what direction. After that, he continued to look from door to door, searching for the room number he was looking for.

Once he finally found room 2017, Syo let out a sigh of relief. He knocked on the wood door. "Hey Otoya, it's Syo." He waited for a response, only to realize how stupid he was. After slamming his palm into his forehead, Syo reached for the door knob and began opening the door. "I'm coming in."

The red haired boy sat up in his hospital bed, the blanket pulled up to cover his legs. He looked at the male who had just walked into his room with wide eyes, completely surprised that the boy had come to see him. He looked around his room once or twice, as if he was looking for something. Then he pointed to the stool next to his bed.

"Can I sit down?" Syo asked, getting a nod in response. The blonde went over and sat down on the stool, placing the bag of stuff he had bought on the floor. "How have you been?"

Otoya seemed to think about for a moment before lifting one hand tilting it side to side to show that he was just ok. Then he reached forward and pointed to Syo.

"I'm good." Syo shrugged. "There hasn't really been much going on since last night." He watched as the red head nodded in understanding, then he remembered what he had brought with him. He leaned down and pulled the sketchbook and pencils out of the plastic bag and handed them to Otoya, who had a confused look on his face. "They're for you. So you can write down what you want to say."

The red head's eyes grew wide as he looked from the sketchbook to Syo. Fumbling with the box a bit, he managed to pull out one of the pencils and opened up the sketchbook. He bent his knees to provide a bit of support for the book as he wrote something down. After a few seconds, he lifted the pad off of his lap and turned it around for Syo to see.

_Thank you so much!_

Syo looked at the slight smile on Otoya's face as he read what was written down. "No worries buddy!" Syo laughed a bit himself. "I just thought it would come in handy." The blonde then reached back into the bag and pulled out the coloring book and crayons. He had a grin on his face when he held the items up for Otoya to see. "Wanna work on this with me?"

Otoya had a slight smile on his lips as he scribbled down on the pad of paper.

_Of course!_

Syo flipped through the pages, trying to find the best picture to color in. "Flying, something about an old lady, super strength. Ah! How about this one?" The blonde turned the book around for the other boy to see. It was a picture of a guy in a cape and mask, a.k.a the superhero, fighting what looked like a nuclear accident gone wrong.

Otoya nodded when he saw the picture and reached for the box of crayons. He opened it up and pulled a couple of color out then passed the box to Syo. He then repositioned himself on his bed so that he could lean over the coloring book that Syo had placed on the bed.

The two teenaged boys sat and colored in the picture, each taking turns with some of the colors. Syo would say a few words here and there, gaining some amount of response, usually in the form of a grin or light tap on the shoulder, and the occasional written thought. They colored only two or three pictures in completely before the door opened and a nurse came in.

"Oh." She said when she saw Syo. "I wasn't aware that you had a visitor." The lady looked over Syo for a moment. Then she recognized the pajama pants that he was wearing. "You're another patient?"

"Yeah." Syo shrugged. "Am I not allowed to be here?"

"No. You are as long as you've been granted permission from your doctor, it's fine." The nurse explained as she walked closer to the bed. She went over to the opposite side, where the different machinery was, and looked over the screens, logging certain parts down on the medical chart that she had pulled off of the hospital bed. "But I'm afraid that you'll need to step out of the room while I change Mr. Ittoki's bandages."

Otoya hung his head when his injuries were mentioned. He didn't want Syo to see them, let alone know just how bad they were. To say he was embarrassed was an understatement. It was more like humiliated. A sudden warm hand over his shoulder made the red head raise his head.

"I'll go and get some drinks from the vending machine down the hall." Syo said simply, waiting until Otoya nodded before turning around and walking out of the hospital room.

Both Otoya and the nurse watched as the blonde teen left. "It's nice to see that you're communicating." The nurse said as she cleared the coloring book and crayons off of the bed and moved them to bed side table. She then began gathering the fresh bandages that she would need.

Since he had gone through this routine several times, Otoya knew to remove the blanket from his legs and swing them over the side of the bed, as well as take off the button-up pajama top. He sat still as the nurse began to undo the bandage around his chest. Curiosity got the best of him and he looked down to see the stitches that were scattered over the otherwise pale skin. The wounds looked much better than they had when Otoya had first been admitted to the hospital.

"It looks like you're healing up very well." The nurse said as she inspected the stitches to make sure they were still intact. "Have you been feeling any pain at all?"

Otoya shook his head. It was probably due to the painkillers he took twice a day, but he didn't feel too much pain at all. What he did feel was never anything to complain about. He reached over to take hold of the sketch pad and pencil and wrote something down, turning it around when he was done for the nurse to read.

_It stings a bit if I move too quickly. But it's not bad at all._

"That's fine then." The nurse smiled at the way the boy wrote. Since she had never actually talked to him, this was the first time she had ever gotten a hint as to what kind of person Otoya was. From the way he wrote, it almost seemed as though he was a bit childish at heart. Of course, she couldn't say for certain though. The nurse began to apply the new bandages to the red headed teen's wounds. "So who was that boy who was here? Did you meet him at the hospital?"

_You mean Syo?_ Otoya scribbled on the paper. _I just met him yesterday._

"And you're already letting him come to your room?" The nurse raised an eyebrow. It wasn't too uncommon for patients to become close to other patients, but very rarely did they go to each other's rooms. It was even rarer for them to get that close in such a short period of time.

Otoya just looked at the nurse and nodded. He hadn't expected Syo to come to his room either. Although he did give the other male his room number, he didn't think that the blonde would stop by for a visit so soon.

The nurse finished changing all of Otoya's bandages and looked over the teen one more time, just in case she had missed something. "Well, you're all set for now. I would recommend you take a walk around the halls if you feel up to it. Just make sure you come back in time for your medication at 4."

The red head nodded as he fiddled with the buttons of his shirt, trying to put it back on neatly. He then watched the nurse leave the room. Not too long after the lady left, Syo came back in, carrying two bottles of soda.

"Here you go." He said, handing one to Otoya.

Otoya took the cold drink in both hands and smiled his thanks. He had a bit of trouble opening the cap, but once he had he took a large gulp of the fizzy drink. While he did, Syo sat down on the bed next to him, drinking his own drink.

"So did the nurse say anything?" Syo asked.

Otoya nodded and motioned to the door.

"Something about the door?" Syo questioned as Otoya continued to point at the large wooden door. He continued to watch as Otoya pointed to himself. "You." Syo nodded, easily understanding that one. Otoya then held up two fingers. "You need to go number two? Well I'm not gonna stop you if you need to pee." Otoya shoved lightly at the blonde's shoulder. "Ok. So that was wrong. What is it then?" Syo watched as the other boy continued to wave his hands towards himself then the hall. "You need to go outside?" Otoya nodded and clapped his hands together lightly. "Wanna go walk around the halls then?"

The red head happily nodded and gulped down the rest of his soda and placed the bottle on the table by his bed. Then he grabbed the sketchbook, pencils, and the plastic bag. Otoya looked at the sketchbook for a moment. He began writing something down.

_I probably should have just written that down….._

"No duh." Syo laughed as he read over Otoya's shoulder. "But I figured it out, so we're cool."

Otoya nodded before placing the sketchpad and pencil in the bag and hanging the bag off of his wrist. He leaned forward and took hold of his crutches before standing up, rather awkwardly, and situating himself over them. He then turned to Syo, who stood up after him. Otoya hadn't realized until just now, but he probably taller than the blonde. Although when he was crouched over his crutched, they were nearly the same height.

"Where do you want to go?" Syo asked, getting a shrug in response. "Hmm. We can just walk around then I guess."

Otoya agreed to the idea quickly and the headed out of the white room. As they wandered around the hallways, they passed a lot of doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors. Many people moved out of the way as soon as the pair got close, as if they really needed half the hallway to walk. They had made several laps around the floor they were on and even passed through the courtyard before they decided to stop in the dining hall for a late lunch. There were a lot more options than Otoya normally had, so he was more than happy to eat the food, even if it was technically crummy cafeteria food.

Time seemed to fly by while Syo and Otoya walked together. They spent a lot of time chatting, which implied Syo doing all of the talking and Otoya scrambling to write down what he wanted to say quickly. That or Syo doing his best to interoperate the many hand gestures that Otoya would make to try and get a point across. Often time though, that method of communication wasn't effective right away. But, soon it was nearing four o'clock and Otoya needed to get back to his hospital room. Syo walked the red head back to the room, before turning to go back to his own room. Even after though, the two continued to text each other until it had gotten late.


	3. Chapter 3

"And if you move your hand like this, then it means 'friend'." A lady with short brown hair said and she formed Otoya's hand into a certain shape. The red headed teen nodded in responce and he held his hand in the position he had just been taught.

That morning the usual nurse who took care of Otoya came in and said that this lady was going to teach Otoya sign language. At first Otoya wasn't too sure if he wanted to learn it, but after hearing that he would be able to talk with people that way, he decided that it would make sense. They began working right away, starting with numbers then moving onto the alphabet. Otoya had figured out the numbers easily, but letters were harder for him to remember. The way they were shaped confused him, especially since very few had anything to do with the letter that they represented. After practicing and repeating those a few times, the lady began to teach him simple words.

"Now then, lets repeat." She said with a smile and held up her hand to make the gestures. "'hello'." She waited for Otoya to mimic her movement before continuing. "'good-bye', 'you', 'me', 'us', and 'friend'."

As Otoya made the last gesture, the door to his hospital room swung open, with Syo walking in soon after. The blonde looked rather confused when he saw some lady sitting by Otoya's bedside and doing what looked like holding the other teen's hand, although she was actually just correcting the position of Otoya's fingers. "Um, did I come at a bad time?"

Otoya nearly snatched his hand away from the lady and waved them frantically while shaking his head, trying to tell Syo 'no'. He then scrambled for the sketchbook and pencil that he kept end by his bed and wrote a note on it.  
'You're fine! So come in already!'

Syo smiled at the words, but followed them none-the-less. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the bed, on the opposite side the older lady was on. "So what's going on? Normally you only have nurses or me in your room."

'You've only come to my room twice...' Otoya held up the notebook with an amused look on his face.

"It's not like that matters." Syo waved his hand at the silent boy's comment. "Now hurry up and answer the question."

'I'm learning sign language'

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow when he read the page. "Sign language?" He asked, getting a nod in responce. "I guess that makes sense."

"Are you a friend?" The lady asked, jumping into the teens' conversation.

"Yeah. My name's Syo." Syo offered his hand to the lady, trying to be polite. He got a good look at the lady in the process. She had short brown hair, was wearing a dark gray suit, almost as if she was going to some sort of meeting or formal event. To some her up, the lady looked rather plain.

"It's nice to meet you Syo." The lady smiled before turning back to Otoya. "How about we end for today? I'll come back tomorrow morning though."

Otoya nodded and lifted up the notebook. 'Thank you.'

The lady nodded and smiled before picking up her purse and making her way out of the room. Syo watched as the lady left, and the moment the door closed he climbed over Otoya's bed, and thus over Otoya, before stealing the stool that the lady had been sitting on. "I don't know about you, but that seemed really awkward."

The red head shrugged. He didn't actually mind it, but he could tell that Syo must have felt a bit strange since he had come in at such an odd moment. Picking up the pencil, Otoya wrote down on the pad of paper. He knew that Syo would be reading over his shoulder, so he didn't even bother turning it around. 'So what's up today?'

"Hmmm." Syo crossed his arms over his chest as he thought about the question. "Not too much. My brother said he was going to stop by later today, but other than that... Nothing."

Otoya's eyes went wide. 'WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!'

"What?" The blonde asked when he saw the written down exclamation.

'You have a brother?!' Otoya's handwriting was more scribbled than usual, showing that he was rather frantic.

"You mean I never told you?" Syo asked scratching his head in mild embarrassment. He couldn't believe he forgot to mention it, but Otoya's reaction proved that he had. "I have a twin named Kaoru." He began explaining. "He's the younger twin and looks a lot like me."

Otoya sat and thought about it. Syo had a brother? And a twin no less. After a few more moments of thinking the situation over, the red head wrote something down on the pad of paper and lifter it for Syo to see. 'Can I meet him?'

"If you want to, then sure." The blonde teen nodded. He then stood up and began to fix the clips in his hair. Otoya had noticed ho the blonde would always pin a part of his bangs back, but he couldn't tell if it was for the style of it or it the just got in his way. Syo then turned and grabbed the set of crutches off the wall they were leaning against and turned back around just in time to help his friend stand up and get himself situated ontop of the metal supports. "You ready?" He asked, gaining a nod in responce.

The two teens then began to go through the halls of the hospital. This was Otoya's first time going to Syo's room, he didn't even know which ward it was in. All he knew was that Syo had soon led him into an elevator and pressed the button for floor 3. It almost surprised the red head that Syo would always come from so far away just to see him and talk to him, despite the fact that he could speak back. It warmed his heart more than anything though. He was happy to know that someone cared that much, and it made him realize just how close of a friend Syo could become for him. As if to interrupt Otoya's thoughts, the elevator door opened up and the pair immediately stepped out and into the hall.  
Otoya noticed a few things about this floor. For starters, the walls were painted with a pale green stripe going strait through the middle of them. That, and there were more nurses and doctors around in this area than his own. He thought that maybe some new patient had just been brought in, or something like that. There were many posters on the wall too, which was completely different from the plain walls that Otoys had become used to. On his own floor, the only way to see decorations was to go the the nurses counter and look over at all the little items they kept to entertain themselves with between shifts.

"Well, here we are." Syo said as he approached a wooden door. A large '3240' printed on a plastic plate by the door. The blonde then opened the door and led the way inside. Syo's room was just about the same as Otoya's, except maybe a bit larger and it had an extra couch in one of the corners. The same amount of machinery seemed to be in the room as in Otoya's, although some of it was different and unusual looking. It was also messier, Otoya noticed. There were comic books scattered on top of the bedside table, what looked like a collection of CDs and an MP3 player were placed on the bed next to a CD player, the oh so recognizable coloring book was opened up to a half finished page on the table by a jacket and bag that were flung carelessly ontop of the chair across the room. "Kaoru said he'd be over soon, so I guess we just hang out here for now. That cool?"

Otoya nodded and made his way over to the room, making sure the door closed well behind him. He stood for a moment, a bit bewildered because he didn't really know where he could sit. It wasn't until he saw Syo clearing off some of the stuff on the bed and sit that the red head decided to rest his crutches against a near by wall. He then limped his way over to the bed, where he then flung himself ontop of the mattress. He landed half hazardly with his legs still hanging off and his feet touching the ground, although barely. His stomach was ontop of Syo's lap.

"You ok?" Syo couldn't hide the ammusmant in his voice as he helped pull Otoya onto the bed better. The boy in question nodded, a smile printed on his face. "What do you want to do? Music? TV? Coloring book? All three?"

Otoya thought over the options. He then lifted both of his hands, holding up one on one and three on the other.

"Music and coloring it is." Syo said. He organized his CDs into a pile and handed them to Otoya. "Go ahead and pick one."

Otoya nodded and took the CDs. He looked through them as Syo grabbed the coloring book and crayons and began finishing up the unfinished picture he had probably been working on before. There were six CDs total, each for a different band. To his surprise, Otoya actually recognized all of the titles, with the exception of one. He looked over the odd one out. The cover had splashes of bright reds, yellows, and pinks in the shape of what looked like a tree. There were thirthteen songs on the disc, all with rather interesting looking titles. After looking a bit longer, Otoya realized that it was classical music. When he opened the box, he saw a little summary about the artist on the inside of the cover. It was a man who played all sorts of instruments from piano to trumpet. This CD in particular was all strings. Otoya found it interesting that Syo would have something like this, especially since most of the other discs were of rock bands. Deciding that he wanted to give it a try and see what was so amazing that someone like Syo, who pinned his hair back and colored with crayons, would listen to classical music, Otoya reached over and tapped the blondes shoulder. Wen he got his attention, he handed the CD to Syo.

"Okie dokie then." Syo said with a smile. He reached over Otoya and fiddled with the CD player as he set up the disc and played it from the beginning. He then handed the other teen a few crayons as an invitation to join him in coloring the superhero fight scene.

The music was a very pleasant sound that seemed to fill the room nicely. It wasn't too loud or too soft, and kept going as the boys went from picture to picture to try and find a new one to work on. Itoya found himself really enjoying the songs from one to the next. From time to time, he would hear Syo humming along, which meant that he probably listened to this artist a lot.

There was a knocking sound on the door, followed by the voice of a boy. "Syo, I'm here." In stepped a teen who looked almost exactly like Syo. He wore a black suit, as if he was some sort of business man, and carried a plastic bag in one hand.

Both Syo and Otoya looked up from their coloring book. "Oh. Hey Kaoru!" Syo waved to his brother and turned off the CD player. "How have you been?"

"Are you sure you should be asking me that?" Kaoru said with a slight frown. "You're the one in the hospital after all."

Syo simply shrugged before feeling a tug at the sleeve of his teeshirt. He looked over to see Otoya pulling at his shirt with his head coaxed to the side. "This is my brother Kaoru." Syo explained, then turned back to his twin. "Kaoru, this is Otoya. I met him here."

"Nice to meet you." Kaoru smiled and held out his hand to Otoya, who took it and shook it lightly. The read head was almost surprised at the resemblance between the two. He had known that they were twins, but for whatever reason, it didn't cross his mind that thy ould be identical. If it weren't for the fact that Syo pinned his hair back, Otoya probably ould not have been able to tell the two apart.

"So how long are you staying for?" Syo asked his spitting image. "Are you gonna have diner with us."

"I'm only here to deliver some stuff from Mom and Dad." Kaoru then handed the bag that he had been holding to his brother. "I'll definitely be here on the big day though."

Otoya coaxed his head to th side when heard this idea of some super mega important day that was apparently coming up. He didn't really know what that meant. Seeing as they were in a hospital, it could mean a number of things. It could be his final treatment, his discharge, or something completely non-related.

"Don't tell me Natsuki still plans on coming." Syo grumbled. He had an aggravated look on his face that only made his brother giggle.

"Of course he is." The second blonde replied. "You're lucky I told him he wasnt allowed to bring cookies or a cake or something. We don't need you having stomach problems as well as heart ones."

Large red eyes widened in panic. Otoya grabbed onto Syo's sleeve and pulled at it, making sure he had the other teen' attention. One the blonde turned to ace him better, Otoya lifted one hand and placed his flat palm over Syo's heart. He looked him in the eyes with a near tearful look in his own, his eyebrows slanted down to show the sheer worry on his face.

It didn't take a genius to tell that Otoya was probably scared out of his mind upon hearing that his new friend had been hospitalized due to problems with his heart. So Syo was radially able to figure out what the silent boy would have tried to say. With a gentle smile on his face, Syo decided to explain his situation to the red head. "I was born with a heart condition that makes me really sick at times. Lately, it's been getting a lot worse, so I'll be having a heart transplant in a few days. But trust me," Syo made sure that he was looking Otoya straight in the eye, and that he had a good and honest smile on his face. "I'll be just fine and good as new once I'm done."


End file.
